A Book for Mom and Baby

Everyone has heard that reading to your baby from an early age is great for his or her development.  I’ve found several little cloth covered books and picture books that are great for the baby but perhaps not as much fun for mom.  The Little Big Book for Moms was full of great things to read with my son and a lot of fun for me to read as well.  I love the way the book is put together. 

My Favorites From Each Category

• Fairy Tales
• The Ugly Duckling
• The Three Little Pigs
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Activities
• Hand Puppets
• Indoor Gardening
• Homemade Music
• Poetry
• Life Doesn’t Frighten Me
• Wynken, Blynken, and Nod
• A Visit From St. Nicholas
• Nursery Rhymes
• Sing a Song of Sixpence
• Humpty Dumpty
• Old King Cole
• Songs
• Hush, Little Baby
• Mulberry Bush
• Old MacDonald
• Stories and Essays
• Mortal Terrors and Motherhood
• Operating Instructions
• The Old Man Who Said "Why"
• Finger Games
• Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!
• The Wheels on the Bus
• Eentsy, Weentsy, Spider
• Recipes
• Apple Crumb Pie
• Classic Cookies
• Banana Bread

If you were to read the book straight through you’d see that the categories are intermingled throughout along with some lovely artwork.  However, that isn’t how I wanted to read it and I found the Contents area to be very helpful because the different topics are listed by category there. 

What I really like about this book is that it is such a great resource for traditional childhood stories (of all kinds) and it exposes children to different story telling formats.  While the games and recipes won’t help develop reading skills the games are fun and the recipes delicious.

The songs and stories brought back a lot of memories that I don’t think I would have remembered without some prodding.  I love the traditional elements in this book and think it is a great alternative to some of the ‘newer/better/faster’ items I’ve seen for children.

Have you read this book and if so what did you think of it?  What do you like to read to your young children?